Possessive friendship
by 8Dwriter-in-training8D
Summary: The Hokage is troubled; the Kazekage offered to join forces, because both villages have two very powerful weapons... jinjuriki. Sarutobi sees the power-lust in Rasa and is caught in a pickle of a choice. Will he accept? Unknowing to them, the two 8-y.o. boys have already met... will their meeting bring disaster? Gaara is unstable and clingy. can Naruto handle him?


A loud boisterous yell echoed around the area as a young blonde haired boy ran down the street to find his teacher, "Iruka-sensei! Iruka-senseiiiii!" The eight-year old hollered as he dashed around the village, determined to find him. He ignored the stares and harsh words poking at him as he went by, right now he was too excited to care, he found something really cool! And he wanted to show his sensei! Maybe after that they could go have some ramen together, like they did almost every day. He glanced left and right and the whiskered boy's face lit up when he finally saw that familiar spiking brown pigtail at the back of a man's head who was wearing Konoha's trademark green vest. The boy sprinted off towards the man and pounced on his back when he finally reached him, wrapping his arms around his neck and his legs around his waist like a koala. "IRUKA-SENSEI I FOUND YOU! YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT I FOUND! IT'S REALLY COOL I WANT YOU TO CHECK IT OUT!"

"Gah! Naruto!" The teacher exclaimed, stumbling a little in surprise at the quick and rather clingy blonde, "Naruto, not now! I have an important meeting with the Hokage." He said after he found his balance and glanced back at his hyperactive student. Naruto pouted, "But- but Iruka!"

"No buts, Naruto. I'm in a hurry." He let the boy slide off of him and turned towards him to see his student frown and stare at the ground; he crouched down to the child's height and gave him a reassuring smile as he lifted a hand to ruffle his messy locks of hair, "Don't worry, Naruto, I'll catch up with you later, and then I'll buy you some ramen, ne?" At the mention of ramen, the young boy's eyes sparkled, "But right now the Hokage has asked for my presence, the fourth Kazekage has come."

"Kaze... kage?" Naruto blinked, "Is that like a Hokage?" he asked curiously and his teacher grinned, "Yes, he is the leader of the sand village." He stood up straight again and looked down at little Naruto, "...and he has important business to discuss with the Hokage and I. Now I'll see you later, okay?"  
But Naruto was stubborn, and followed Iruka as he walked, "what kinda business?" Naruto asked, frowning up at his sensei. What could possibly be more important than spending time with him?  
"I can't tell you." Was merely Iruka's reply and he ruffled Naruto's hair again; "It's just grownup stuff. See you, Naruto." He smiled, and before the boy could say anything else, his teacher disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Naruto was yet again, left hanging.

"Aw, come on! That's not fair!" The blonde exclaimed and growled, stomping his foot; "You're always doing stuff! You're always busy and YOU LEFT ME ALONE AGAIN!" He shouted at thin air, knowing that Iruka was already gone. He doesn't even hang around long enough for Naruto to play a prank on him lately, and that's bad news. What could be so important? The eight year old was too childish to care about important stuff, and he just stared up and around.

"..." Alone again.

Naruto looked down, and as a result to the silence, his normally bright eyes darkened into a saddening deeper blue. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his black shorts and he kicked a stray rock, his young face shouldn't be the one to show such immense amount of loneliness, but it did. He didn't know what to do now, going home just made him depressed, and nobody else wanted to be around him. "Stupid Iruka... with his stupid missions... and the stupid old man giving him stupid stuff to do." He grumbled to himself and scratched the back of his head, shielding his eyes from the sunrays as he looked up at the blue sky that had some white puffy clouds mixing up in it in various shapes. "I wonder what that Kazekage wants..." He looked at the tower in the distance, and suddenly, a mischievous, foxy grin ripped across his face. "Well then, Iruka-sensei, if you won't tell me, I'll just have to find out for myself! Believe it!" He exclaimed, and with the poor ninja skills he knew, he dashed off.

...

...

...

"I have heard a rumor..." The Kazekage started as his peering eyes peeked from under the robe and hat he wore. They were both sitting in the Hokage's office across from one another, alone, since Rasa had requested to speak alone. "About a jinjuriki in your village." At this statement, the Hokage tensed and furrowed his brows. "Oh? Why the sudden mention?" He asked, they've had a long conversation about their current villages' situations, and they had not gotten along so well these past few years, but they were neither foes nor allies, and it seemed that the Kazekage was looking to form an alliance with the leaf village. Sarutobi, however, was skeptical about this sudden suggestion, and wondered what sort of benefit this alliance would have for the fourth Kazekage. Rasa's sudden statement perhaps would give him a small clue. Sarutobi was curious as to where this was going, and bringing along his son, was indeed questionable. He soon pieced it together quick enough though.

"My son, Gaara, houses the one-tailed demon Shukaku, and you keep a child under your wing that also holds a tailed beast within." The Kage began, "If we join forces, and raise these children as allies, we could form the ultimate alliance with the two most powerful weapons imaginable." The man stated, which left Sarutobi silent for a while...

As if on cue, a knock was heard, and with the Hokage's permission, Iruka entered. "Good morning, Hokage-sama, what was that you needed me for?"

...

...

...

He didn't know why his father brought him along to this mysterious village, but he did not like it one bit. He was nervous, and he had never been outside Sungakure, he just wanted to go home, back to Yashamaru! This place was too... humid. It was watery and lush green with so many plants it almost awed him; the atmosphere was different than that of the desert and the people were of a different culture –the only thing he liked was that nobody knew him and he wasn't stared at like he was a savage animal-. His father had threatened him about his behavior and the controlling of his sand. Since Rasa knew his son was obedient when needed to, as long as there were no other people around, he didn't fear for his unstable son. So he had placed him in one of the rooms in the Hokage tower, but didn't need any supervision as long as he was alone. The red haired boy clutched his stuffed animal -his teddy bear- and held it to his chest to at least get a sense of comfort. His black-rimmed, tired eyes glanced around the room; he was chewing on his lip a little nervously, but he stayed exactly where his father left him, sitting on the couch in this lobby-like room. A glass of water was placed on the coffee table nearby with some cookies in a plate next to it in case he got hungry or thirsty, but the small child did not dare move from his place, because he was afraid of his father's wrath shall he do something wrong.

 **Tick...tock...tick...tock...**

Time seemed to move incredibly slowly, and Gaara was getting restless, the voice in his head was starting to bother him again, and he squirmed in his seat.

 _ **Blood... blood... I want to kill...**_

He didn't say anything, he just slammed his mental barrier on that and rubbed his forehead, "Teddy, I want to go home..." he mumbled to himself, but that constant whispering at the back of his mind made him want to pull his hair, but the boy just curled up and squeezed his eyes tightly. But they snapped open a few seconds later when he heard grunting, and he turned his head towards the open window to see two small hands clutch the window sill and pull up a boy no older than he was.

"Grrr... Iruka-sensei! I will get you back at this... you hang out here... Heh... let's see what happens when I—" The blonde intruder froze when he spotted a small redhead on the couch. The boy was taken aback, nobody really sat in the lobby at this hour, which was weird. "What the-" His cerulean eyes widened a little when Gaara's sea green eyes widened in slight panic, not knowing why this boy was climbing through the window in the room HE was in.

"W-Who are you?!" Gaara hesitantly squeaked, his rimmed eyes boring into the blonde's figure, which was kind of creepy. Unknowingly to the intruder, the sand that the redhead left around the floor started to shift. Gaara took a good look at the blonde, and his figure relaxed a little, because he did not look like a threat at all. The boy had spiky blonde hair, and a wimpy body but he looked taller than Gaara himself, his skin was tanned and he had whiskers on his cheeks. And if Gaara looked closely enough, he held a bucket and a bag of... stuff -he had no idea what they were- on his back.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Believe it!" The blonde said with a determined look on his face, "Who are YOU?!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at him, but that was a very stupid mistake, because he lost his grip on the window, and the boy gasped as he lost his balance. "W-Whaaa!" It was a long drop from this floor, and the kid would break his back if he fell. At the sight, the redhead's eyes widened a little as the blonde fell out.

The blonde's eyes were wide with shock as he stared downward at the ground as the wind blew around him.

 **CRASH!**

The bag the boy held, as well as the bucket, crashed in the alleyway below, a cat screeching in shock somewhere nearby. But the body never met the ground. The blonde blinked; everything was upside-down, and he realized that he was being held upside down. Naruto looked at his foot, seeing that it was being held by... sand? And that sand stringed all the way to the window, where the redhead shyly peeked through. "Uh..."

The young blonde was pulled inside, through the window safely, however, he was still being held upside down and he squirmed a little as Gaara stared at him silently.

"..." Naruto blinked at the one-tailed vessel, and he then looked back down –or up- at the sand holding his foot, "Hey! How are you- Eh?!" He backed his head away a little when the panda-eyed redhead took three steps closer and just stared curiously at the blonde, which was a little creepier than before, the teal stare seemed to trace every outline on his face, curious, yet cautious. The sand did not let Naruto go, and the boy looked back at the sand, and then at the boy. Gaara lifted a hand and was surprised to see that this boy named Naruto did not flinch, and in return, Gaara poked his whiskered cheek, noticing the marks.

"Y-You look like a... cat." The redhead stated calmly and without any sign of a smile, studying him as if he was an experiment, he's never seen another kid up close though... and Naruto blinked at him before twisting his face in offense, "Oh yeah?! Well... you look like a... like a PANDA!" He exclaimed, huffing in annoyance, and the redhead blinked, "..."

"Can ya let me go?" Naruto growled.

He let go.

 **Thud.**

"OW!" The blonde fell on his head and he groaned and he sat up, shaking his head and glared up at the shorter boy a little, but focused back on the sand shifting around. "Whoa..." His eyes widened in awe, "Are you controlling it?!"

"..." Gaara half-expected this kid to run away screaming, but he didn't, which puzzled him, but he did not complain. Naruto on the other hand, had already stood up; he was about three inches taller than the Suna-boy, and was staring at the shifting sand in awe when Gaara simply nodded hesitantly.

All of a sudden, the blonde's face brightened like a ray of sunshine and lit the room, his blue eyes shone with excitement rather than fear, and his smile was huge. It startled the redhead and he actually took a step back, his sand shifting around the other direction and circled around them cautiously. "That's so COOL!" Naruto said loudly, pumping a fist in the air and looked down at the shorter child. "Can you teach me?! How do you do that?! Can you do any cool tricks with it?!"

Gaara blinked at him, staring up at Naruto with visible shock, "Um... uh..." He looked down, fiddling with his fingers nervously. This kind of behavior was foreign to him; this kid was not scared, nor hateful towards him... the sunshine-boy... seemed fascinated. "Um... no... I don't control it so well... and I've never tried... tricks..." he mumbled, which made Naruto frown. "Huh... what's your name again? And who are you? Why are you here? You dress funny."

"Sabaku no Gaara." The redhead replied, still avoiding his gaze and ignored the comment about his clothing, but slowly looked back up at him, seeing that Naruto did not seem fazed by anything. Well, in reality, Naruto WAS a bit creeped out by this kid's brooding stare and tense figure, but he wasn't the one to judge, he seemed nice after all. In fact, this is the first kid to actually talk to him long enough to call it a conversation, the other boys at the academy would rather avoid him or sneer at him for being a failure and prankster, the ones who would be okay enough with him are dog-boy, the fatso and the lazy-ass, but they only hung out to play pranks together or helped each other escape the academy and avoid the teachers, after they were out they usually quickly parted ways. So this was just as much of a surprise to Naruto as it was to Gaara.

"..." The two fell silent for a long moment, and Gaara started to get worried, he didn't like being stared at, it made him uncomfortable. "W-What are you look—"

"Do you want to play with me?!" Naruto suddenly asked.

"Huh?"

"You know, play! Can I play with your sand?!" Naruto grinned, staring down at the redhead hopefully, which caught the shorter child off guard. Did he just... ask him to play? His eyes widened and his heart started to beat faster and he clutched his Teddy harder, "U-Um..." Nobody had ever asked him that before! Somebody wanted to play with him! How?! Maybe it was good that he didn't know who or what he was.

"O-Okay..."

The sand came up to them and swirled around Naruto, making various sloppy shapes, since Gaara couldn't control it that well yet. But nonetheless, Naruto was amused, and laughed and tried to guess the shapes; it actually made Gaara smile a little when Naruto tried to grab the sand, but gasped when it slipped through his fingers like water, it was amazing. "Wow!" He cooed and awed in amazement, almost yelping when a thick batch of the sand slipped under him and made him fall back, but it caught him, and suddenly he was in the air. Naruto giggled, looking down at Gaara with a bright smile as the redhead joined him, the two of them now floating with the sand. "Holy ramen! You're so cool! I wish I could do this too!" He squealed happily, flapping his arms as if they were wings and wiggled around, trying to 'fly' while Gaara finally let the smile cross his face. "Y-You think I'm... cool?" He asked, a hopeful expression glistening in his gaze, he clutched his Teddy closer to his chest pretty much just sitting there in the air while Naruto wormed around as if he was on zero gravity. "Yeah! You're the most awesome ninja I've seen!" Naruto laughed and did a back flip in the air. "Weeee! Ghahahaha!" He snorted and giggled, which brought a short pang of happiness in Gaara's heart. "Most don't like my sand. They say it's scary..." He whispered, so Naruto wouldn't hear.

The two played, and for the first time, Gaara felt happy. He felt comfort, he felt wonderful... all thanks to this boy. This sunshine-boy; it was almost as if he was an angel. He... didn't make his heart hurt. Was this like the medicine Yashamaru was talking about? Their laughs, their smiles, were music to his ears... is this how the kids, he watched playing, felt? Not once had any negative thought bothered him as they played.

...

"Hey Gaara..." Naruto said; the two sitting down on the couch and munched on the cookies that had been left for him, they stopped playing and Gaara let Naruto drink the water, "Want to come and see something really cool?" He asked between mouthfuls, audibly gulping down the biscuit, "I wanted to show Iruka-sensei, but he's too busyyyyy" He stuck his tongue out at nothing, imitating and scowling at the thought of his sensei not having time for him.

"..." The redhead replied with an eager nod, and Naruto grinned, standing up and going towards the window, "W-Where are you going?" Gaara's eyes widened, "Are you leaving?!" He squeaked, suddenly looking slightly panicked, and Naruto blinked when he felt the sand tickle his ankle; Gaara was so weird... "Well, yeah, and you're coming with me!" He grinned, giving him thumbs up, "Come on Gaara, use that sand of yours to get us down!"

Gaara's figure relaxed a little, "But... my father has ordered me to stay here!" he replied, frowning, and Naruto grimaced, "Oh come on, knowing how boring old man Hokage is, they'll probably be up there all day! Come on Gaara! We won't be gone for long!" The Shukaku vessel shifted on his feet, looking rather nervous, but Naruto just grinned, "Come on!" He encouraged, "You have to see it!"

"...I can't."

"Please Gaara!"

"Father will get mad."

"He won't even notice you're gone!"

"Naruto, I can't!" The redhead furrowed his brows, his tone final. He felt bad for saying no, he really wanted to say yes, but he couldn't. He had to obey father. Naruto's smile fell, and Gaara suddenly felt his gut twist at the sight. No, no! No he didn't want that smile to go away, that smile that was directed at HIM! He wanted that smile to be his! And to not go away!

"But..." The blonde pouted; his eyes saddening, "I really wanted to show my friend..." he mumbled, and Gaara's pupils dilated at those words, he froze, and he stared...

 _Friend..._

Naruto called him a friend.

"..." The eight year old blinked, his eyes slowly whelming more and more with saltwater the more he stared at the sunshine-boy. "...F-Friend?" His breathing became labored, and his cheeks reddened slightly as a small smile twitched on the sides of his lips but soon twisted into a sad little snarl. "Hah...hah..." His breath hitched, and he slapped a hand over his mouth to cover a sob. "F-Friend..." His voice cracked, and he couldn't help but let the tears spill over.

"..." Naruto's eyes widened, but he recognized that expression... it was the exact same expression when Iruka first admitted his caring for him. He cried like a baby that day, but it wasn't of sadness, it was of relief. He just, couldn't imagine that another person was just as -if not more- lonely as he was. So Naruto didn't say anything, his eyes merely half-lidded, and he slowly walked over to the redhead clutching his Teddy bear.

"You... you're lonely too... aren't you?" Naruto whispered, his blue eyes holding nothing but compassion. Gaara said nothing for a while, his rimmed eyes squeezed shut. "I'm... always alone... nobody likes me, not even my family... they're afraid of my sand... they hate—"

His words were cut off when all of a sudden; he was pulled into a hug. This made his raccoon eyes snap open again, and more tears fell. "I understand..." was all Naruto said, "I'm lonely too... but now I have a friend. His name is Gaara!" He smiled, a soft smile crossing his face as he rubbed his back. Gaara dropped his stuffed animal, and clutched onto the whiskered blonde and buried his face in his shoulder. He sobbed a little, feeling so happy... _so relieved_. He never wanted to let go of this feeling, of the fact that someone other than Yashamaru CARED. That he... had a friend.

 _A friend... HIS friend._

He couldn't believe this boy would make him so joyful in under a couple of hours. He felt... comforted. Safe. Naruto was really something. "..." He was quiet after his hiccups and sniffs subsided, hugging his new companion tightly. It was actually almost as if Kami just sent an angel through the window...

"Let's g-go..." He mumbled.

"Eh?" Naruto blinked.

"I want you to show me that cool thing."

Naruto smiled.


End file.
